Hair Implants More Natural, Surgeon Says

A new skin-grafting technique is helping surgeons create a more natural look in hair transplants, an Oklahoma surgeon said Friday in Orlando at a meeting of doctors from around the country.

The technique, which involves transplanting one or two hairs at a time, appears to increase the success of correcting male-pattern baldness, said Dr. O'Tar Norwood, an assistant professor at the University of Oklahoma Health Services Center.

For years surgeons have transplanted plugs of scalp and hair from the back of the head to the top, Norwood said. But the result was an abrupt and tufted hairline that was unnatural looking..

In the new technique, smaller grafts of scalp are sewn into follicle-size cuts, Norwood said.

''Because of their small size, there is almost no scarring and tufting and the result is a very natural appearance.''

The procedure also is useful for replacing eyebrows and eyelashes, Norwood told a meeting of the American Society for Dermatologic Surgery.

Norwood said the procedure is just beginning to be taught in the United States.

U.S. doctors are integrating the procedure with standard plug transplants to create a fuller heads of hair, he said.

''Prior to the use of micrografts and minigrafts, many individuals who underwent hair transplants preferred to comb their hair forward to cover the hairline,'' Norwood said. ''Now these same persons are able to comb the hair back and expose the hairline.''